SourceForge project page | Downloads | SVN repo
This is a simple software-based Theremin written in Python. A theremin is an electronic device that uses a capacitance sensor to determine the distance between the device and the user and outputs a tone that varies based on the distance sensed. Most people are familiar with this instrument as the eery sound effect used in many old sci-fi flicks. This program lets the user control the frequency and amplitude instead using the mouse.
An additional feature is the ability to limit the output frequency to only musical notes of a particular scale (diatonic, pentatonic, etc). You won't get the eery sound but you will be able to play clean notes easily. You can't use vibrato in this mode unfortunately.
To get a really convincing Theremin sound it helps to run the output into a reverb effect of some sort (I use a reverb pedal and a guitar amplifier).
Get it here.
Alternatively you can grab the latest from our Subversion repository (uses at your own risk) like this:
svn checkout http://ptheremin.svn.sf.net/svnroot/ptheremin/trunk/src/ ptheremin
Once you've downloaded the ptheremin.py just run it like so:
python ptheremin.py